I am always looking for sources of inspiration and I have a great deal of respect for real journalists, especially for those who put themselves at considerable risk to report from war zones or disaster areas. I just came across Christoph Bangert’s works for NY Times and looking at his gritty black-and-white Tri-X photos, I realized that I’m often longing for film.
 My first B/W film, 2000 |
 My latest B/W film, 2010 |
I don’t know why is it. Subconsciously I edit my digital photos to resemble film and I can’t be the only one, since there are are plugins and settings dedicated to making digital look more… analog, I guess.
It’s been a decade since the first commercial DSLR (Nikon D1) and by now everybody is used with digital and the much easier workflow is undeniable. So what draws people to film? Is it nostalgia? Are people becoming weary of the “digital darkroom” and RAW files and ever-more demanding software? I don’t know.
What I do know is that I still have a few rolls of Velvia, Provia and Tri-X in the fridge and from time to time I enjoy taking my old camera and just have fun, without constantly checking the LCD. With photo scanning services providing 4000 DPI scanning for 50 cents, it’s surprisingly liberating (sometimes) to simply drop the film canister for processing and get a CD full of hi-res TIFFs back.
